Capital AudioFest 2023

Always a friendly face, yay, a calming presence as I crawl through show halls, Technics' Bill Voss was on hand to play music and talk shop in a space hosted by Overture Ultimate Home Theater Electronics of Wilmington, Delaware.

New to the room, and recently announced, Technics’ 4th generation Direct Drive SL-1200 GR2 Turntable ($2199). Salient points of the table’s build include a newly developed motor-drive circuit, newly designed low-noise power supply adopted from Technics’ Reference Class SL-1000R turntable, "new color cues of certain parts and elements, as well as the new body surface, touch quality to add even higher desirability to the new GR2s," stated the press release. To reduce environmental impact, packaging for the 1200GR2 is "free of Expanded PolyStyrene (EPS). Instead, it is made of smart-shaped cardboard, maintaining safe protection of the product and includes a cardboard box for the accessories, allowing ease of removal and storage."

Also in the system: the terrific SU-R1000 Integrated Amplifier ($9999), which I reviewed in December 2021, SL-G700M2 Networking CD/SACD/DAC player ($3499), and Sonus Faber Sonetto 5 loudspeakers ($5000). Cartridges were by Hana and Soundsmith, cabling was from Clarus, and it was all supported by Harmonic Resolution Systems.

This system was oh-so-smooth playing Oscar Peterson's classic We Get Requests and the more unusual "Calypso Minor" by Abdullah Ibrahim, from the 2010 album Sotho Blue.

More Technics: Down in Plaza 1 Ballroom, Matterhorn Audio featured the Reference Class SL-1000R turntable ($26,999) in "a world class Euro branded system."